Gamera's War (1966)

b/w Gamera

Shout Factory is releasing Gamera movies, as has been reported extensively elsewhere.  this is the second movie, Gamera vs Barugon, or as it is/was known in the US, War of the Monsters.

like the first DVD, it looks amazing.  also, like the first DVD, there's a great commentary track to go along with it. another similarity is the lack of a dubbed version or the US cut.

which is a shame, since the US cut is about 20 minutes shorter and actually improves on the movie, as it's a bit ponderous and has precious little monster time onscreen.

Barugon vs Gamera

it's like, let's make Gamera a serious monster and see what happens.

which is an interesting experiment, but not really doesn't quite work at this running time.  of course, it was tried 30 years later, and fanboys all over the world slobber about how great that movie is as well.

me, I prefer my giant monsters with some sense of fun to them.

anyway, here's a comparison to the Japanese laser disc version of the movie and it's new US DVD.

this is from the LD

this is the new DVD

yeah, that's quite a difference.  despite the lack of a dubbed version, I am quite happy to be able to buy this and all the rest of the Gamera movies these days. oh, and Ragone, where's my copy I won answering the trivia question? LOL!